


Bad Day

by Cai (Zanya)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Established Relationship, Humor, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-18
Updated: 2014-03-18
Packaged: 2018-01-16 05:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1332901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zanya/pseuds/Cai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko’s having a terrible day and wants nothing more than to be left alone. Sokka feels it’s his job to see if he can make Zuko laugh.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Saruchante](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Saruchante).



Zuko lay on his bed when he heard the bedroom door open and shut with a soft click. He pulled the crimson red sheets up closer to his chin and tried to ignore the quiet footsteps coming closer to him. So he stared at the dresser across the room and hoped Sokka would go away. When he had left the dining hall, he explicitly stated how he wanted to be alone. 

Sokka slid into bed and poked Zuko’s shoulder. “So, did you hear the one about—”

“Not interested.” Zuko cut Sokka off before he could finish the joke. He turned over so that he faced the opposite way. “I want to be left alone.”

When nothing but silence followed, Zuko burrowed further into their bed, and tried to ignore the grin on Sokka’s face. Today had been terrible for him, and all he wanted, more than anything, was to brood. Once he did that, he could move on from his bad mood. 

“Aww, come on.” Sokka rolled over so that he faced Zuko. “You know you wanna hear it.” 

Zuko glared at Sokka balefully. “No, I honestly don’t. Your jokes are terrible.”

“What? They are not terrible.” Sokka looked mildly offended, though mainly to push Zuko’s buttons. “Your sense of humor is what’s terrible.” 

“I don’t why you keep insisting on telling jokes. I’m fine.” Zuko scooted away from Sokka only to have him move closer. 

“How am I gonna,” Sokka paused and grinned. “tell you if you bitch and moan.” Again another pause and Zuko knew what was coming. “Can I make you laugh, please?”

“Don’t start talking to me in Haikus.” Zuko frowned, knowing that once Sokka got started on the haikus, sometimes he didn’t stop… for awhile. 

“You are really glum. Such a shame to feel that way. A complete downer.” Sokka’s grin widened even more.   
Zuko shot him a deadly glare and folded his arms across his chest. “Did you not hear what I said?”

“I heard, but that doesn’t mean I agree with you.” Sokka rolled over so that he was lying on his side and facing Zuko. “I think it’ll help. Laughter’s good for the soul.”

“You think a lot of things, and it usually doesn’t turn out well,” Zuko replied, grumpily. 

“Most of my ideas turn out extremely well,” Sokka easily countered. 

“Maybe for you.” Zuko pushed Sokka away from a couple inches and glared. 

“My idea’s grand. All according to my plan.” Sokka stretched out his hands as wide as he could. “It makes you go wild.”

“Funny, I don’t feel too wild right now,” Zuko succinctly pointed out. “Unless you count the desire to strangle you.”

“You know you love it. Even when I am full of it. Because, it’s witty.” Sokka grinned again and nudged Zuko with his shoulder. 

“I can think of a far better word to describe it than witty.” Zuko closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head. When that didn’t work, he tried to twenty until he felt a light jab to his arm. 

“Oh, yeah? Like what?” Sokka waggled his eyebrows, attempting to squeeze the information out of Zuko if he could. 

Zuko turned his head away and sniffed. “It would not be an appropriate thing for a Fire Lord to say.”

Sokka scrunched up his face thoughtfully. Moments ticked by before he made an “aha” sound like something had only come to mind. “Oh, hey I forgot to tell you something that happened the other day.”

“What happened?” Zuko glanced over at him suspiciously. Usually Sokka didn’t sound that serious unless something bad actually happened, but considering he had been telling jokes a couple minutes ago, it didn’t quite add up. 

“Remember how we went to Ba Sing Se to visit your uncle, and I forgot to bring that fancy tea you wanted to show Iroh so I went out to the market to see if they had any?” Sokka glanced up and paused, waiting for Zuko’s answer. 

Zuko gave Sokka a sidelong glance, unsure of where this was headed. “Yes… I remember.”

“Well, okay, see… when I went out to buy it, I had a bunch of water to drink so after awhile I had to pee,” Sokka began, while he used his hands to illustrate the story. “And that end of town didn’t have anywhere to go except this one tiny little outhouse, which was closed down.

“So I figured, what the hell, you know, I’ll just go pee in the back alleyway. No one will notice. It was almost dark out,” he continued, carefully watching for Zuko’s reaction. “And right while I was in mid-pee this guard comes up behind me and asks me to put my hands up. So I did and then he pulled out this ruler and… wrote me a ticket, eleven hundred gold pieces he said to me, one hundred for each inch.” 

“You are an idiot!” Zuko felt his heart go into panic. He couldn’t believe Sokka would be so stupid to get caught in public. Not only was the fine ridiculous, but now he would be listed as a sex offender. “Eleven hundred gold pieces are you insane?” 

Sokka’s face twisted into a half painful look that reminded Zuko of someone who either was trying not to laugh or had to pee. Then a full belt of laughter erupted from Sokka, and he curled up into a partial ball and slapped his knee. “Oh, god, I can’t believe you fell for that one.” 

Zuko shoved Sokka with both of his feet, unbalancing him on the bed. A look of surprise came over Sokka’s face, and his arms flailed wildly in the air before he rolled off the bed and onto the floor. He lay there, feet sticking up in the air, tangled together with his arms uncomfortably situated over his head. 

Peeking over the bed, Zuko laughed. “Now that’s funny.” 

Sokka rubbed his head and untangled his legs. If that was all it took to get Zuko to laugh, he would have fallen off the bed sooner.

**Author's Note:**

> Just another repost of a prompt request I wrote last fall for a friend on y!Gallery.


End file.
